European Road Safety Charter: 14 FIA signatories commit in Copenhagen

FIA EUROPEAN BUREAU

Section:

Transport

The FIA Eurocouncil 2009, held in Copenhagen, 4 June last, provided the venue for the FIA international signing event of the European Road Safety Charter. Isabelle Kardacz, Head of the European Commission’s Road Safety Unit was present in Copenhagen to witness the major FIA support given to this European Commission initiative. The FIA European Bureau along with five FIA member clubs renewed their commitments first made over three years ago. True to its initial commitment to encourage clubs to join this initiative, on this occasion, the FIA brought a further eight European Clubs on board, signatories for the first time to the European Road Safety Charter.

The European Road Safety Charter, launched with the aim of drastically reducing the number of annual road casualties by 2010, has actively sought to involve civil society in realising Europe’s commitment to road safety. The FIA Eurocouncil, was among the first to commit itself and sign up to the Charter following its initial launch in 2004.

Ms Kardacz welcomed all of the FIA signatories very warmly, “As a signatory, your actions in favour of road safety are officially acknowledged by the European Commission”, she said. “I am very happy to see FIA clubs renewing their commitments to the European Road Safety Charter and I am delighted to welcome so many new FIA Charter signatories to this Community today. Your adhesion further underlines the strong commitment of FIA clubs to road safety. The strong influence that motoring organisations have on the implementation of road safety actions in their home countries can not be ignored” commented Isabelle Kardacz.

Werner Kraus, Chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil responded on behalf of the federation, “To date some 41 out of the 65 FIA clubs active in Europe have joined this important initiative. The European Road Safety Charter is an excellent vehicle that provides civil society organisations like ours with the opportunity to increase the visibility of our engagement to improving road safety both at the national and European level. As Chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil, I am particularly happy that our FIA European Bureau and so many clubs have either renewed their commitments or become signatories for the first time. FIA’s commitment to this initiative also gives a strong message to the European Commission that it must continue relentlessly in its work to make our roads safer for all users.”

To further underline the importance of the central “Road Safety” theme of the 2009 FIA Eurocouncil, FIA delegates adopted the Copenhagen Road Safety Declaration. The declaration sets out the vision, beliefs and demands that FIA Clubs in Europe see as critical in terms of future European road safety policy if the European Union is to succeed in further reducing road casualties in the coming decade.